John Reese Kenly

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John Reese Kenly (January 11, 1818 – December 20, 1891) was an American lawyer and a Union general in the American Civil War.

[edit] Biography

Kenly was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1845, but went to the Mexican-American War as a lieutenant with a company of volunteers he had raised, and was afterward promoted to the rank of major. He entered the American Civil War as colonel of the 1st Maryland Infantry Regiment, which, together with some Pennsylvania companies, was captured by Stonewall Jackson, after hard fighting, at Front Royal on the Shenandoah, May 23, 1862. Kenly himself was severely wounded when made prisoner, but his stand had saved General Banks's division at Winchester, and he was raised to the command of a brigade in 1862. This he led at Hagerstown, Harpers Ferry, and elsewhere.

Kenly died in Baltimore, Maryland, and is buried there in Green Mount Cemetery.

[edit] References

• Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
• This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.